The top trend in the bathroom: white – on its own or with lots of contrasts

White stands for purity.That’s why it’s been dominating bathrooms for decades and serves as the basis for a wide range of design approaches.45% of Germans swear by the timeless, universally combinable basic colour,giving it a huge lead over beige (11%), grey (10%) and blue (8%)*.In many cases, it’s chiefly the ceramic sanitaryware, as well as mineral cast washbasins or bathtubs and shower trays, that form the basis of the colour scheme.The underlying idea is totally understandable: the products are meant to be the shining stars of the bathroom for as long as possible – both with regard to hygiene considerations and in terms of colour.More than 80% of the ceramic sanitaryware sold in Germany is white.

How convenient, then, that white happens to be so popular in interior design right now: a warmish white that looks extremely snug when combined with wood.In the meantime, sanitaryware producers have added different shades of white to their offerings,although these new variants are still having a hard time asserting themselves.The best way to bring out the design qualities of the white sanitaryware is to combine it with colourful accessories and a welcoming overall look.Contrasting it with colourful bathroom furniture or floor tiles is also a clever design principle that’s guaranteed to banish boredom.A classic black-and-white design, for instance, is a less eccentric alternative to the ultra-hip black bathroom – and no less stylish.

White as an on-trend colour for the bathroom – a contradiction?

The trend landscape is contradictory per se.But in the bathroom, history plays a role too – white has always been standard because it’s the neutral colour.However, if you look at the context, you soon realise that white has all sorts of other qualities as well: it brings other colours out, it neutralises contradictions between the architecture and furniture, and it dissolves boundaries to make spaces look seamless.Those are very valuable attributes, especially for minimalistic concepts – which, by the way, are gradually becoming more popular again after a long phase of country house and vintage.

Especially when it comes to new builds, houses in a simple, straightforward “Bauhaus-style” are very popular right now,so you can’t say it’s just the design school’s upcoming centenary that has focused attention on this look again.The Bauhaus style stands for minimalism and clarity.White conveys the values of the Bauhaus style in a very immediate way and is an ideal platform for additive colour elements.But tinted variants of white are also trending in interior design.However, because white has been the first choice for bathrooms for decades, this particular trend doesn’t stand out as much as the others.And that makes it more difficult to use white in the bathroom in a way that brings its modernity across.

White creates the perfect setting for trendy classics

In the lifestyle bathroom, white has tended to be associated with Scandi chic, vintage style or shabby chic in recent years, and bathrooms in a maritime style – which have apparently never gone entirely out of fashion – are unthinkable without white too.But white is also a perfect basis for an interior style that uses a lot of retro elements like organic shapes or moulded plywood furniture from the 1950s and 60s and incorporates graphic patterns and prints.Thanks to their clear, often curved lines and geometric shapes, bathroom furnishings with echoes of the mid-century style look like genuine classics when they’re set off against Bauhaus-compatible white walls.

Homogeneous white opens rooms up – both inwardly and outwardly

Those who find that approach too playful can opt entirely for white instead.White-on-white gives the space a very distinctive character that is only reinforced by refraining from high-gloss lacquer:the fewer contrasts there are to catch the eye, the more ethereal the room looks.The right lighting plays a crucial role:as in Cat Stevens’ legendary song “Into White”, everything concrete is lost in a white light that abolishes contours.It doesn’t actually matter whether it’s meant to allude to the breaking day or an esoteric experience, the way art and cinema use it to suggest a transitional state – the most important thing for the bathroom design is that homogeneous white scatters the light in a way that’s perceived as almost incorporeal.Volumes are flattened, the boundaries of the space seem to dissolve.This effect can be used to make small rooms seem bigger, as a deliberate nod to health consciousness and to detach the bathroom from day-to-day life and define it as a quiet haven.Any additional colour is nothing but a disruption.At the very most, a bit of wood on the floor might help keep the user from floating away ...

*Source: 7. Grundlagenstudie Badezimmer – a representative bathroom survey by the German Sanitary Industry Association (VDS) and forsa-Institut